Tears coming down my brothers face as he comes storming into the house from his baseball practice screaming “I don’t like it!”. After everything calmed down, I decided to ask what happened, after a long while of taking the long story short was, he cracked under the pressure. His coach was “too aggressive and the pressure was too much” he had said.

According to CNN,  70 percent of children leave an organized sport by the age of 13 . More youth athletes are dropping out of sports. There are staggering reasons and factors leading to these numbers. ¨Our culture no longer supports older kids to play for the fun of it.¨ says the Washington Post. Getting closer to high school sports are geared to high competition and the expectations rise. Besides that, the pressure can come crashing down on kids can be too much. School work can piles up and adds on to the stress. Certainly, the pressure and expectations are specially fit for certain types of kids.

Coaches can be big factor in expectation and pressure. Many coaches can expect a lot out of their players at a young age. Some could argue that kids need to learn discipline, but some could go too far.

Large numbers of practices a week can cause injuries and pediatric trauma. Injuries such as hamstring, quadresept, and groins can be devastating ware and tear injuries that can take weeks or months to recover.

The pediatric trauma that these athletes could get due to severe injuries are inclined to happen due to the tremendous amounts of practices and games. Doctors are performing surgeries that are common for professional players. Something needs to be done about the amount of time that these athletes are playing, It’s excessive and unneeded.

The cost for high level sports can reach up to 3000 dollars per year. This can knock low income families out of the game when it becomes to expense. Many players on my team throughout the years have left due to how expensive it can be. Equipment, travel, and leagues are becoming very extensive to these youth teams. It is outrageous amounts of money that these families are having to pay.  

Youth sports are taking a sharp turn for the worst. The culture of youth sports is changing, and so are reasons why we play. The rate of youths playing sports are on a steep decline. Multiple factors of pressure that can suppress the enjoyment of youth sports. Youth sports leagues have to regulate the amounts of practices, amount of money needed to compete in them.